Steve Gustafson, a 66-year-old Florida man, probably didn’t expect to be a wrestling a 130-pound reptile when he woke up the other day. But that’s exactly what he did to save his pet dog from an alligator.

Gustafson was in his backyard when his West Highland terrier wandered off to a nearby pond. He heard his pup yelp as the alligator tried to carry him away in his mouth and ran after him.

“For whatever reason, I don’t know, I just yelled, ‘you’re not going to get her!’ and just leaped on the gator…just like you do some silly belly flop in a pool,” he said. “The only difference was I landed on top of a gator.”

The alligator attempted to pin Gustafson to the bottom of the pond, but he was luckily able to throw the alligator back in the pond and run back home with his dog.

“It’s like being in a really bad car accident and walking away from it,” Gustafson said. “If I hesitated I would have lost my best friend.”

This just proves that a man will do what it takes to save his loyal best friend. Gustafson likely knew that there was a chance he could get killed trying to wrestle the alligator, but he did it anyway. He actually saved his pet dog from an alligator and his courage should be admired by everyone.